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symposium

 - 3 dictionary results

sym⋅po⋅si⋅um

  [sim-poh-zee-uhm]
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–noun, plural -si⋅ums, -si⋅a  [-zee-uh] .
1. a meeting or conference for the discussion of some subject, esp. a meeting at which several speakers talk on or discuss a topic before an audience.
2. a collection of opinions expressed or articles contributed by several persons on a given subject or topic.
3. an account of a discussion meeting or of the conversation at it.
4. (in ancient Greece and Rome) a convivial meeting, usually following a dinner, for drinking and intellectual conversation.
5. (initial capital letter, italics) a philosophical dialogue (4th century b.c.) by Plato, dealing with ideal love and the vision of absolute beauty.
Origin:
1580–90; < L < Gk sympósion drinking party, equiv. to sym- sym- + po- (var. s. of pnein to drink) + -sion n. suffix
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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sym·po·si·um   (sĭm-pō'zē-əm)   
n.   pl. sym·po·si·ums or sym·po·si·a (-zē-ə)

  1. A meeting or conference for discussion of a topic, especially one in which the participants form an audience and make presentations.

  2. A collection of writings on a particular topic, as in a magazine.

  3. A convivial meeting for drinking, music, and intellectual discussion among the ancient Greeks.


[Latin, drinking party, from Greek sumposion : sun-, syn- + posis, drinking; see pō(i)- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

symposium 
1586, "account of a gathering or party," from L. symposium "drinking party, symposium," from Gk. symposion "convivial gathering of the educated" (related to sympotes "drinking companion"), from syn- "together" + posis "a drinking," from a stem of Aeolic ponen "to drink," cognate with L. potare "to drink." The sense of "meeting on some subject" is from 1784. Reflecting the Gk. fondness for mixing wine and intellectual discussion, the modern sense is especially from the word being used as a title for one of Plato's dialogues. Gk. plural is symposia, and the leader of one is a symposiarch (1603).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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